Dreams and Screams: A Warriors Fan Fic
by Starlit Dusk
Summary: Moonpaw as an apprentice with a problem: she is having disturbing dreams about a violent force. She wants to find out what they mean, but something happens that makes her so angry, she makes a pact with a mysterious  cat to get back at her clan.
1. Part 1 Moonpaw

Dreams and Screams

Moonpaw woke up in a cold sweat. The Dream had come again. It stalked her in the day, following her like a dog, getting ready to pounce when she fell into the depths of sleep. She opened her eyes to see the gray apprentice Runningpaw standing over her, his eyes nervous. "What was it this time?" he inquired, his face filled with worry. Moonpaw shakily got to her feet. "The same," she said, and she and Runningpaw walked out into the moonlight, and sat down. "I am running through a forest, but the forest seems to be getting darker, and then the Moon goes out. I cannot see anything until a pair of bright red eyes appears in the bushes. The eyes bore into my head!" wailed Moonpaw. "And then, when the eyes get so close I could reach out and paw them, the sreams start. First Clawfoots, then all the kits, then Morningtail, then the warriors scream. It gets louder and louder until I can feel their blood running down my paws. I think I killed them, Runningpaw!" And she buried her head in his cheastfur. Runningpaw gently licked her head. "I was just a dream," he soothed. Moonpaw suddenly was very serious. "I think it is an omen. An omen of things to come. And if it is, our clan is doomed."

Moonpaw tried to fall back asleep, but she kept thinking about what she had saw. None of the previous dreams had been that vivid, that real. She hadn't even revealed the full extent of what happened in her nightmares. As soon as she would close her eyes, the rusty smell of blood would overwhelm her, and her eyes would snap back open. This cycle went on and on until the first light of dawn, when Willowfall stuck her head into the den and asked if any of them would like to go on dawn partol.

Moonpaw was eager at the chance to get away, but she was still very tired from the night before. In her sleep-deprived state, every shadow looked like a cat from her dream coming to get her, every breath of wind was an attacking warrior. Willowfall looked at her worriedly. "Is something wrong?"

Moonpaw jumped. "N-nothing."

"You are awfully jumpy today. Are you sure you are okay?"

Moonpaw assured her that she was, but she hissed and pounced as the green bush before her shook. Her claws closed in upon open air, and Willowpaw murrowed.

"You are as jumpy as a squirrel today Moonpaw. Go back to camp, or you will scare away half the prey in the forest."

Moonpaw gladly obliged, and slowly made her way through the brightening forest.

As the camp came into view, so did a familiar face. Runningpaw was just coming out of the camp, along with Bluestar. Moonpaw smiled at them as they came toward her, but both of the approaching cats looked solemn.

Moonpaw's smile wavered. "Whats wrong." she said.

Bluestar looked into her eyes. "Runningpaw told me about your dreams. We need to talk."

As she followed the leader back into the camp, Moonpaw shot an angry hiss at Runningpaw, but he ignored it. "If something is coming, the clan deserves to know," he said simply.

Moonpaw had no choice but to follow her leader and her friend into Bluestar's den. The leader's den was a giant cave with lichen covering the walls. It was damp, dark, and uncomfortable. Moonpaw had the feeling something terrible had happened here.

Bluestar began to speak. "Runningpaw told me about these dreams of yours. We need to know what they mean for the clan. Runningpaw told me the basics, but I need to hear your account."

Moonpaw winced. Having the dreams at night was one thing, but having to recount them again made her break out in a cold sweat. The pure black apprentice took a shuddering breath, and began.

"They all begin the same one way. I am standing in our camp, looking at the stars. I hear nothing, all is silent, but always I end up getting scared and leave the camp. I run as fast as I can, but something is following me. Something I can't escape. It chases me. I can hear its footsteps. And then suddenly…"

Moonpaw broke off, not willing to go on.

"What happens next?" said Runningpaw, and eager look in his eyes.

Moonpaw just could not reveal to her leader what happened next. For what does is something so horrible, she can barely think about it. Whatever is chasing her catches up, and suddenly… she becomes it. Her mind is focused on one thing: Kill.

Her feet would unwillingly carry her back to the camp in her dream, and start attacking all of her friends, her family, and her clan. Something has changed inside of her then, and soon the forest floor is red with crimson blood. The blood of her clan. And she had spilt it.

She always tries to run away, but when she does, the moon goes out, and she hears the screams of the cats she has murdered. The bright red eyes bore into her, and she feels herself being dragged down, down into their murky depths, until her and her clan is no more.

"… I wake up…" she finished, and looked at her paws.

Runningpaw looked angered, for he knew she was not telling the whole truth, but her leader looked satisfied. "I will speak to Willowfall about this, and we will see what she has to say." Bluestar dismissed them with a wave of her tail, and stalked out the door, going to talk to the knowledgeable medicine cat..

Runningpaw glared at her. "What about the blood? What about the eyes you always tell me about?"

"Who cares? How could you?" Moonpaw spat. "That was my private business to deal with, and I see now it was a mistake in entrusting you with that secret!" Moonpaw sprinted toward the cave entrance, adrenaline pumping, sprinted past her leader, out the stone entrance to the camp, past the pine and oak trees of the forest, until she came to the very edge of WaterClan territory.

The sun was setting by the time Moonpaw really paid attention to anything around her. She had caught a squirrel earlier, and in her current state, she did not care whether she was breaking the warrior code. She had eaten it anyway.

"I am just a tool to them," she thought. "I am just here for their whim, and I don't really matter."

She was so angry she didn't even think about the dream as she fell asleep under the tree.

It was pitch black when Moonpaw woke. Someone was prodding her side. "Runningpaw…?" she murmured, and slowly got herself up. "I better go back to camp," the outline of a huge cat loomed in front of her. Moonpaw jumped.

"Who are you?" she squeaked, and the visitor let out a murrow of laughter.

"My name is not important. I am here to help you."

"Help… you? How?" the figure in front of her did not seem solid, and she could see the faint outline of a darkened tree through him.

"I know you are suffering. I know why you came out here."

Moonpaw remembered why she had left the camp in the first place, and a surge of hatred swelled through her. The visitor's figure wavered and became more solid.

"I can help you. I can make them understand that you are not something to be played with. You are a warrior, and you need to show them as such."

He stuck out his nose. "Will you take this power?"

Moonpaw's judgement was clouded by her hatred, and she blindly touched her nose to the strange cat.

He smiled. "Now all you have to do is wake up."

"I'm dreaming? Are you from StarClan? Will this make this dream go away?"

The cat gave a cruel smile that chilled Moonpaw down to her bones. "Something like that. It is time to make your dreams a reality!" And the cat let out a yowl that whipped up her fur. Something wasn't right here.

Moonpaw suddenly felt a strange power course through her. If she could have seen herself, her eyes were glowing red and her smile was the same cruel one the visitor was smiling. And suddenly, everything went black.


	2. Part 2 Runningpaw

Runningpaw silently stalked through the dense underbrush. He could hear the mouse scuttling among the leaves, but he was into the wind so that it could not hear or smell him. He was about to pounce on the small creature when a yowl scared it away, and his paws closed on empty air. He looked around for the source of the noise, but all he could see was trees, and bushes. Runningpaw was annoyed, and was about to go back to camp when he heard yet another yowl. What he had mistaken for a yowl was actually a yell, one filled with fear.

Runningpaw woke with a start. He wasn't in the forest, he was in the apprentices den, and chaos reigned. Apprentices were running everywhere, and fear showed in their eyes.

"What's going on?" he franticly asked Tawnypaw, who was trying to rip a hole in the back of the den.

Tawnypaw looked at him with horror filled eyes. "Something's attacking us!" she wailed, and squeezed through the small gap she had made, and sprinted away into the dark forest.

Runningpaw gasped, and stuck his head out the den entrance, and what he saw made his blood run cold. There was a single cat standing. And that cat was Moonpaw.

Except it didn't look like Moonpaw. This cat had blood dripping from her fangs, and her long claws digging into the ground. The dim light of the moon cast an eerie glow on the apprentice. Runningpaw wouldn't have known it was Moonpaw at all if he hadn't recognized the gray of her pelt, with the white splotch on her forehead,which was now stained by blood.

The camp clearing was eerily quiet as Moonpaw spun to face him.

Runningpaw plucked up his courage. "What in StarClan's name is happening? What happened to you?"

The cat's red eyes gleamed, and when it spoke, it sounded like two cats at once, Moonpaw's cool voice, and the second voice dripped with malice. Togerther, it had a startling effect.

"You. Great-Great-Grandson of Firestar. The one who has betrayed us. You are the cause of all this pain. All this blood did not need to be spilled. All we wanted was you.

"Moonpaw!" he yowled, feeling his blood pound in his ears. "What have I done? Why are you doing this?" He looked around at the cats who had tried to stop her. Bluestar, who was stirring on the ground, Silvermist, whose tail was twitching feebly, and, to his horror, his brother, Rustypaw, who was not moving.

He felt bile rise in his throat. This cat, who he thought was his friend. This cat had killed his brother.

Runningpaw felt himself fill with hatred, and he lunged at the monster cat. She easily jumped out of the way, and slashed at him, all in the blink of an eye. Runningpaw felt a surge of pain, and he collapsed, already beaten.

He could not move. Moonpaw advanced to him. "At last. We have had our revenge." And she howled, a ear splitting, hate filled howl, one that filled him with fear, until the blackness closed in upon him, and he heard no more.

Runningpaw woke to the smell of newleaf. He did not feel injured anymore, nor that he was laying on the rock floor of the camp. He slowly opened his eyes, and saw that a green pair were right in front of him.

Runningpaw jumped up, and backed away from the strange cat. The strangers fur was orange, and he was lean and strong.

Runningpaw looked around. He was in a beautiful clearing, with green shrubs and with bright stars shinning above him. There was not a wisp of wind, and the grass felt soft underpaw. He looked at the cat again. "Who are you? Where am I? I'm I…" he did not want to think about it. "… am I dead?"

The cat looked him in the eye. "I'm Firestar, your kin. You are in StarClan, but on the contrary… you are far from being dead."

"But… you're dead! I'm in StarClan! Moonpaw KILLED me?"

Firestar looked at him. "You want to be dead?"

Runningpaw fell silent, and Firestar mewed again, "You are here because an ancient evil has risen again in the forest. Your unfortunate friend had the bad luck to run into the most dangerous cat of the past: Tigerstar."

Runningpaw gasped. Firestar was the hero of his legends… but… Tigerstar was always the villian."

"Even in death, he did not stop hunting me. And when I finally died of natural causes, he had still yet to get his revenge." Firestar sighed. "But he would not be satisfied with me in StarClan. He is trying to take revenge on my kin: you. And young Moonpaw gave him the means of doing it. Your clan will be destroyed if we do not stop it, and all the other clans will perish too. SpringClan, ShadowClan, WindClan, they all will perish along with WaterClan. For that is what Tigerstar wishes."

Firestar put his muzzle right up to Runningpaw's. "But this does not have to be the case. If Tigerstar can give her his power, his strength, then I see no reason why I can't give you mine, if you choose to accept it. Then you can go back. StarClan will heal you. And you will have one more chance to stop this evil."

Runningpaw's vision tunneled. He could save his clan? "B-but what about Moonpaw? Will she be okay?"

Firestar looked at him. "I wish I could know if she had to die for Tigerstar to leave her. But she is enraged, and Tigerstar won't give up until the last of my descendants are dead."

A figure suddenly came into view next to Firestar. It was Rustypaw.

"C-can he come with me?" said Runningpaw.

Rustypaw shook his head. "It was my time to go. But you can avenge me. Defeat him!"

Runningpaw was shocked. "N-n-no. You're not dead! You're going to come back with me." He felt helpless, and scared.

Firestar looked at him sadly. "He will always be with you." And with that, Runningpaw's vision again faded to black.

Suddenly, the smell of blood, trees, and fear wafted into his nostrils, and Runningpaw was back in the forest. He could feel power flowing though his veins, and slowly got up. It seemed no time had past since he had collapsed, for Moonpaw was still howling. She cut off mid howl, and looked back at him, malice in her eyes. "So… not dead yet are we?" she smirked, but the smile was wiped off her face as Runningpaw hurled toward her at such a speed that she did not have time to get out of the way, and he slashed her on the muzzle. Runningpaw knew, at that moment, that this was no longer Moonpaw. This was a monster, Tigerstar's puppet.

Moonpaw's smirk morphed into a snarl, and launched herself at him, blood dripping from her wound. He easily dodged it, and felt words that were not his spill out of his mouth. "This will not do anything, Tigerstar. You should just leave them in peace, this has nothing to do with you. Why are you causing such pain?"

A male voice spilled out of Moonpaw's mouth. "What do you know about pain, Firestar? You banned me from my clan, my kits, my destiny. You brought a clan to try to kill me. I would have led our clan to greatness. But you got in the way. And now I shall make sure that no kin of yours ever gets in my way again!"

Moonpaw lunged at him again, and he slid under her and kicked at her from underneath her, and the quickly jumped out. Blood was dripping from her muzzle and belly, but her spirit was not marred. He feinted to her left, and then lunged at her, landing squarely on her shoulders. She fell, and he pinned her struggling body down. He yowled a yell of victory, and was about to rip her throat out, when suddenly the evil left her eyes, and she went limp.

Runningpaw stopped, his teeth against her throat.

She looked up at him, and coughed. "I-I'm so sorry." She whispered, and Runningpaw felt the power leave him too. He got off of her, and they huddled together, and knew that it was finally over.

One moon later, Bluestar, who was still recovering, asked for Runningpaw and Moonpaw to come into her den. She had them explain to her everything that had gone on, and why Moonpaw had gone berserk. Moonpaw had not been received well since then, but Bluestar refused to make her leave the clan.

"… and then… I felt all the hate leave me, and I felt Runningpaw's teeth on my throat. Tigerstar left me… at that moment… so Runningpaw would kill me, but he would get away."

Bluestar looked deep in thought. "Seven cats died that day, we still haven't found Tawnypaw. Silvermist is still recovering. And, yet, life goes on. No one blames you Moonpaw. What happened was out of your control.

"I never told anyone this, but when I was a kit, something similar happened to me. Birchfall's kits had just been born, and I had a strange dream, and when I awoke, I found myself trying to kill them. I was just a kit, but I was also strong. I killed one of my denmates.

"But the medicine cat at the time, Bramblepelt, saw it for what had really happened, and saved me from punishment. I never imagined that something like that could ever happen again. But they will forgive you."

Moonpaw's blue eyes filled with tears. "I will never forgive myself. They may forgive me, but I will never, ever forgive myself."

Bluestar put her muzzle on top of Moonpaw's head. "I can do one thing to make you feel better, though. I have decided that to calm the clan's feelings, I am going to make you warriors."

Not a long time later, the clan was halfheartedly calling Runningpaw's warrior name. "Runningheart! Runningheart!"

Bluestar was furious. "This is not showing our enemies that we are invincible! This is showing our enemies that we are not standing together. This makes us weak! This is exactly how Moonpaw was taken advantage of!"

Bluestar scanned the assembled cats. "Seven of our number are gone, one missing. But no one shall deny that we are going to move on. Now we can say, we are healing. We are moving on. There is no better way to help our enemies, than to ignore our friends.

"Now, Moonpaw! Step forward."

There were no catcalls, jeers, or yelling. Everyone was silent.

"Moonpaw. You have been through hard times, but no one can deny that you are a strong, repenting cat. And we can see that you have been taken advantage of. Do you promise, that you will now protect the clan from the very same people who tried to tear us apart?"

Moonpaw's voice did not waver as she replied, "I do."

Bluestar's voice rang out loud and true. "I then give you the name Moonshine, as you will from now on outshine what you have done in the past."

At first no one cheered, no one yowled her name. The air was heavy, and only the wind broke the silence. Then, slowly, the cats began to call her name. First one, then two, then more voices broke the silence. And soon, the deafening calls of "Moonshine! MOONSHINE!" echoed throughout the chamber. And at that moment, Runningheart knew that his clan would survive. No matter what, they would pull through.


End file.
